One Time, One Dream
by Thai M. Zoofquesque
Summary: Rue and Ahiru are close friends. Mytho has a heart. And Fakir isn't obsessed with protecting him. The only thing that could make this story stranger? By night, they're not who they are; they're who they created. And until now, they've been in control. AU.
1. Akt 1: Loose Ends

Venturing into the tempestuous world of Princess Tutu fanfic with an AU story.

Alrighty, so an explanation of this AU: in the waking world (in other words, while they're awake), the four main PT characters are Ahiru, Rue, Mytho, and Fakir. Normal humans. But when they fall asleep, their minds are transported into a world called the Story - where they inhabit the bodies of characters; Ahiru becomes the swan princess Tutu, Mytho the heartless prince Siegfried, Fakir the prince's knight Lohengrin, and Rue the princess of the ravens, Kraehe.

And they've made up their place in the Story so far... until Siegfried's missing heart shards reappear without warning...

* * *

_Once upon a time, there was a duck… but no, no, that's not right, this isn't about the duck._

_Once upon a time, there was a raven… no, that's not it either._

_Once upon a time, there was a girl who lived among ducks. And a prince who had a heart. And a knight who occasionally wrote. And a girl who loved to dance…_

--

**Akt 1**

**Loose Ends**

_Knock… knock… knock…_

Ahiru rolled over, burying her face in her ducky pillow, and mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like "evergreen frogmortons, go away." The garbled words seemed to work; for a minute everything was silent.

And then that persistent knocking started up again.

"Aghberrf," the redhead groaned, shoving herself upright and squinting down at the door with bleary blue eyes. "Pique, Lillie, you're being mean, it's way too early…"

When the knocker finally said something, though, it was neither the cheery pink-haired girl nor the sadistic blonde. And it made Ahiru tumble completely off the bed.

"Ahiru, you're going to be late if you don't get up," Rue began from behind the door, but the rest of her words were drowned out by a loud _clunk_. She winced. "… Are you okay?"

"Mmmfine!" The door opened, Ahiru standing on the other side in a nightgown and a rather embarrassed expression. "Sorry, Rue, I didn't know—"

"That's quite alright," Rue interrupted. "But you're going to be late if you don't hurry up, it's almost time for the class bell."

"What!? Aaaagh, why didn't Pique and Lillie wake me up _earlier_ before they _left!?_"

Panicking, Ahiru slammed the door closed on Rue. The elder allowed herself a small smile and set off in the direction of the stairs. Knowing Ahiru, she'd have caught up with her by the time she—

"Rue! Wait up!"

And here came the ducklike girl, barreling along at some speed. Rue stepped aside smartly to avoid being trampled.

"What are you waiting for, Rue?! It's time to go, we're going to be late, Mr. Cat is going to make us marry him—"

Rue's protest was interrupted by Ahiru wrapping a surprisingly strong grip around her wrist. "He's not gonna let you off just 'cause you're dating Mytho—"

"I know—"

"Then _what are you waiting for?!_"

Not hearing any response, the redhead grinned in triumph and proceeded to drag Rue down the stairs.

_Friday,_ Ahiru thought with no small amount of glee. In the past, the school of dance was in session all day, every day, with no hint of freedom on the weekends; but a recent petition signed by all of the ballet students (and those from the other divisions they'd bullied into their cause) had overturned that decree. Friday marked a time of great celebration among the dance students, because the day after they could sleep in as long as they wanted.

Or nearly as long as they wanted… Every weekend since that first taste of freedom, Ahiru had been woken by the loud banging of the door and Rue, looking wide-awake, ready to practice. _Although with what she has to go through at night, I don't blame her for wanting to wake up early…_

"Hey, what happened last night?" she asked suddenly, as the two emerged from beneath the pink rose arch. "I could hear you yelling all the way from my room."

"Went to bed early," Rue mumbled, grabbing hold of Ahiru's shoulder to prevent her from toppling into the fountain. "It was pretty dull at first, but then I think Fakir went to sleep and he showed up and started yelling at me. She couldn't let that go, so she started yelling back, and I guess I must have been talking in my sleep…"

"Oh… I didn't see you, though. I was mostly just trying to find Siegfried, 'cause I though she'd done something."

"He's stuck in her eyrie somewhere, I'm not exactly sure. Ask Mytho, and if Fakir stops being stubborn, maybe he knows too."

"I hope so. … It was fun at first, but now this whole thing is just getting really scary."

"I know what you mean." Rue smiled glumly.

With her eyes fixed on Rue's face, Ahiru didn't notice the stairs they were approaching until she was dangling a few inches away from them and horrible pain was ripping through the back of her scalp.

"Are you okay, Ahiru?"

"Yes yes yes ow ow ow let go let go let go!"

Rue, of course, had grabbed Ahiru's braid to prevent the unfortunate breaking of her nose.

--

"If you take a day off from practicing ballet, you will know it," the furry instructor was saying musingly, pacing in front of the class. "If you take a week off from practice, your companions will know it."

_If you take three hundred and sixty-five days off from ballet, you'll have taken a year off from ballet,_ Mytho thought, tapping his fingers on the inside of his elbow. He scanned the crowd of students again; yes, the piece of orange idiot hair was sticking up from its usual spot. Yes, Fakir's green-black mane was a few spaces in front of him, currently unbound while its grower was retying the knot.

So where was Rue? He continued drumming his fingers, gold eyes anxious. The night before had been horrifying, to say the least, and he couldn't even wake up from it until he'd found his way into the cold night air. Could Kraehe have done something to—?

"And now we will have a demonstration from the advanced class!" Mr. Cat spat, jolting the white-haired boy out of his thoughts abruptly. "Miss Rue, will you—?"

"Of course, Mr. Cat," came the voice he'd been hoping to hear, and Rue stepped forward with a soft smile. In the crowd, Ahiru bounced up onto her knees, grinning at her friend. The girls sitting on either side of her pulled her down after an instant, but the damage was done; Rue grinned back at the crowd, then looked up at Mytho.

After a cautionary glance at Fakir – who was looking neutrally grumpy, as usual – he smiled back, relaxed, and waited for the first strains of music to be tortured out of the piano in the corner.

Instead of the piano, however, the twelve repetitions of the note D were emitted from a large, bell-shaped contraption just inside the door. _Danse Macabre,_ Mytho thought absently. _Interesting choice._

He leaned back against the wall, half-closing his eyes, thoughts returning to the events of the night before. Siegfried hadn't seen Tutu at all, although Kraehe was, of course, hovering around him like some sort of sickly butterfly; and the knight had appeared momentarily, shouting something incomprehensible at the raven that she'd returned in kind.

He regarded Rue, who was performing fouettés almost effortlessly, although only those who knew her well would see the furrow of concentration on her forehead. One, two, three… seven, eight, and she leaned into an elegant arabesque, her eyelids sliding down over her red irises…

She was happy when she danced, Mytho knew. And she was happy in the morning, when she woke. And sometimes, when she was with Ahiru or him, she was happy.

But as the night grew closer, he often began to wonder whether she was happy at all…

Sudden applause yanked him out of his thoughts, and he lifted his hands to clap as well, smiling at Rue. She grinned back, cheeks flushed with exertion and pride, and carefully righted herself from her precarious arabesque _penchée._

_Not bad, huh? _Mytho thought, in Rue's voice, and snorted to himself. It probably was exactly what she would have said.

--

"Not bad, huh?" she said, looping her arm around Mytho's. Ahiru bobbed cheerily in her wake, drawing amused looks from them both.

"Not _bad!_ Rue, that was _amazing!_ You're such a great dancer!" The redhead made an impressive attempt at a fouetté, almost toppling headfirst into a puddle. She was saved from a watery fate by a pale hand flashing out to drag her away, and Mytho raised his eyebrows.

"Practice," he told her firmly, releasing his grip on her shoulder, and the ducklike girl blushed.

"I'm trying," she huffed, brushing some invisible dust off of her sleeves. "If I got enough sleep at night and wasn't so exhausted when I woke up at the crack of dawn… hey, what are we going to do for the rest of the day? Pique and Lillie're doing something with the drawing division and Fakir-"

She skidded to a halt, stopping the other two in their tracks as they turned to look at her. "Where _is_ Fakir?"

"I was at the library, idiot," snapped a voice in a scathing tone, and said Fakir loomed up behind Mytho, causing him to yelp in surprise and jerk away from Rue's arm. "There was a book I needed to return; it's been under Mytho's bed for the past two weeks."

"It looked like a moldy old textbook, okay, I didn't think you needed—"

"And we have bigger issues to worry about than what we're going to do with the rest of the day," he announced, ignoring Ahiru's glare and Mytho's defensive protest. "We've still got to figure out where Kraehe's hidden S—MMFMGH!"

"Sssshhhhh!" hissed Ahiru, who was currently muffling him with her hand and hanging off his shoulder like an infant monkey. "You know we can't talk about that in public—"

"Get _off_ of him, Ahiru, you're making a fool of yourself," Rue said sharply, yanking the redhead off by the shoulder. "She has a point, Fakir. Let's try the drama room, I know for a fact that division isn't doing anything in there until next month—"

"That's the one with all the armchairs and the really big elephant head, isn't it?" Without waiting for an answer, the ducklike girl victory-punched the air and grabbed a hold of Fakir's and Rue's respective wrists. She charged off, leaving Mytho standing with a lost expression.

One of the students closer to their age, a blonde girl carrying a watering can, paused on her way towards the flower gardens and inquired, "What was that?"

Mytho sighed. "I have no idea."

And with that, off he trudged after the trio, who were quickly becoming a colorful triangle of dots in the distance.

--

Several hours later, the four emerged from the drama room, looking nervous, determined, resigned, and neutrally grumpy, respectively.

Ahiru, the nervous one, giggled suddenly for no reason and pointed at the clock tower. "Guys, I think we missed dinner. That took a long time, huh?"

The neutrally grumpy Fakir folded his arms and made a small derisive sound. "Idiot. We can always go to Ebine's. She'll take customers day or night, no matter how late we wake her up."

"I hardly think we'd wake her up," Rue the resigned noted. "It's barely nine."

And that left Mytho to be determined. "Maybe we should all just go to sleep, get this over with. I mean, we have extra time to work this out if we need to, but a little more time isn't a bad thing. And with the plan Fakir's worked out, then we should have me out of there in no time."

"He's not you," Rue said sharply. "He's someone who shares your features."

"Technically he's a product of my mind, Rue, but I see what you mean."

The dark-haired girl sighed, shoving her hands in the pocket of her skirt, as the group began the long trek back to the dorms. "I'm sorry, I know, it's just… Do you think it would be better if I just stayed up a little longer? The Story selves are completely comatose when we're awake, you guys know that."

Fakir shook his head. "No. Kraehe needs to be there to let us into the castle. You can keep our plan from her long enough for Tutu and I to sneak in?"

"Oh, thanks, jerk, like Tutu's a _completely_ different person than I am—"

"Shut up, idiot, she's nothing like you—"

"Are you trying to say something about me, Fakir? 'Cause if she was nothing like me than how could I be her in the Story—"

"You made her up, moron, of course you'd be her—"

"Well, I think you two have made _excellent_ progress in the '_We do not have sexual tension no not at all'_ department," Rue interrupted loudly, "but I think it's time we wind down now."

"_We are not sexually tense!_"

"I'm sure."

They had arrived at the dorms. Without even a hint of a smile, even though Mytho's wide grin was impossible to miss (as were the tomato-faces on both Fakir and Ahiru), she tapped Ahiru on the shoulder and led her off towards the pink rose arch.

"Isn't it weird," the redhead chattered as they ascended the stairs, "I was so nervous about it this morning and I really didn't want to go back because it was really scary but now that we're going back I'm really excited? And I know it's really dumb to be saying this because of Kraehe and all but aren't you excited too?"

"Excited?" Rue whirled around, red eyes flashing. "Why would I be _excited _about turning into the princess of ravens with a possessiveness problem? Why would I be _excited _about turning into someone who wants to kick my friends out of the Story forever? Would _you_ be—"

She stopped. Ahiru had a rather stricken expression on her face, and with a pang of regret, the elder realized she had scared the redhead.

"… Sorry," she mumbled, and the ducklike girl tentatively patted her on the shoulder.

"Nah, it was my fault. I should have known." Ahiru sighed lengthily. "Let's go get this thing over with."

Minutes later, hair washed, teeth cleaned, and dark red nightgown donned, Rue slid into bed. She threw a towel over her pillow to avoid getting it wet and closed her eyes…

And immediately opened them again, rolling over and staring at the window. What was she going to do tonight? Kidnap Mytho's other self and lock him in the dungeon of her shadowy castle—no, she'd done that the night before. Throw her worst warriors at Lohengrin—already done on numerous occasions, so perhaps again. Bind Princess Tutu in chains made of black iron—done, and probably going to happen again in the future.

She let out a frustrated groan and rolled over again, burying her face in the pillow until she couldn't breathe. Princess Tutu… the name made part of her grind her teeth and want to punch something. That was Kraehe, of course, coming closer as sleep drew near…

Don't think about the plan, don't think about the plan…

Her thoughts drifted to the Story; when she wasn't locked in a plot to kidnap or retrieve the prince, Kraehe had traveled the land many times before, from the edge of the western sea to the eastern swamps, the northern black forest where she kept home in her castle, and the southern fields where she had pursued the heartless prince and his knight.

And then the hills, which hid a lake, where the swan princess made her home…

Her eyes drifted closed.

--

A castle, all sharp towers and onyx stone, loomed over him, as if daring him not to be afraid. He had to admit, for a moment, his heart jumped at the sight—but not from fear. No, no, his momentary lapse of heart rate was from _joy._

His prince was in there, and gods damn him if he didn't get him back.

Gods damn that idiot who was Tutu's waking self, too. Didn't the moron ever sleep?

Lohengrin huffed angrily and drew his sword. It was a good thing that Rue girl hadn't slept, either, or he would be fighting a lot of crows right now, and for Tutu to show up in the middle of _that_—

"Sir knight."

As lightly as a feather, a pair of pink pointe shoes landed on the ground behind him, and Princess Tutu stepped forward, the starlight glistening off of her white hair. "Kraehe hasn't appeared yet?"

"No." The knight glanced back up at the castle. His eyes, shades brighter green than that of his waking double, narrowed. "As far as I know, Mytho hasn't slept, either. Siegfried is probably still unconscious in the dungeon."

The swan princess inclined her head in acknowledgement and followed his gaze. "Fakir shared the plan, I trust?"

"Yes. As long as Rue does her part to keep it from the crow, we should have Siegfried out in no time at all."

"Kraehe must notice us, first, and then let us in."

As if on cue, the portcullis before them shuddered, made a creaking sound, and slowly began to slide upwards. The spikes on the bottom were stylized raven heads, and one of them cawed harshly as it passed. With a metallic shudder, the portcullis grew still.

"Here we go," Lohengrin muttered, and stepped forward.

The plan, in theory, was simple, he reflected, glancing back momentarily to make sure that Tutu wasn't lagging behind. Get in, get the prince out while Tutu distracted the crow, keep the prince busy while Lohengrin disabled Kraehe, get out.

"I wasn't expecting _visitors._"

Yeah, right. Simple.

With a long sigh, Lohengrin turned around, fingers tightening around his sword.

Kraehe stood at the end of the corridor, a pair of ravens on her shoulders. She smiled, a sickly smile that made the knight wonder if she could be the princess of ferrets instead of ravens, and advanced.

"You're on, idiot," he hissed at Tutu, and as the swan gulped and stepped forward, Lohengrin readied his sword.

"Kraehe," Tutu said softly. "Why do we have to fight like this? Don't you love the prince?"

"Of course I do." Kraehe's eyes burned scarlet, and she tossed her head proudly, crossing her arms in front of her chest. The ravens on her shoulders cawed for emphasis. "The prince needs me. Without me, what would he do? Be happy? He's just as happy with me as he is with you."

"Why do you hurt him?" The swan moved closer to the raven, expression sad. "If you love him, why do you spirit him away from his home and keep him in your castle?"

"We've had this conversation at least umpteen times before, and for the umpteenth time, it's for his own good." Her eyes narrowed. "When he isn't loving me, what is he doing? What is he doing in his home that he doesn't do here?"

"He dances with his knight, and with me." Looking determined, Tutu lifted her arms and twirled her hands, then stepped forward and held one out. "He reads books that Lohengrin brings him, and when Mytho awakens, he sleeps in his own bed, not a cold stone floor."

"He—"

The swan flipped her hand up, palm facing Kraehe. "No. Here, he sleeps bound in chains, on damp stone, and when he wakes he is forced to parrot endless words of love to you. He is not free here."

"As if he's free anywhere else? He's bound by your commands, Tutu. Yours and Lohengrin's. He doesn't understand how to want; the two of you are so blinded by your misguided infatuation that you believe it's what he would want if he had his heart."

Tutu tilted her chin up. "Until we find some way to return it, it is the best we can do, because we know what is best for him."

The raven smiled thinly.

"What if I told you I knew how to return it?"

--

The last thing Lohengrin had heard was "Why do you hurt him?" and then he had taken off, slinking into the shadows and running as swiftly as a deer towards the stairs he knew would take him to the belowground cells. They were stone, as was everything else in the castle, and there were sixteen of them, as he had memorized after countless visits.

_One two three four five six seven,_ he thought absently, clattering down almost faster than he could count. _Eight nine ten eleven twelve thirteen._ His boots slapped down on flat stone, and he ran on. _I must have missed a few._

A flash of white caught his eye, and he skidded to a halt.

A boy with puffy white hair and blank, golden eyes was sitting in a doorless cell, wrists bound with chains. At the sound of the knight's boots, he looked up.

"Lohengrin…"

"We're here, Siegfried," the knight said swiftly, approaching the chains. He began to hack at them with his blade; though thick, the chains parted as easily as butter under his sword. "Tutu's upstairs, and we've got horses waiting."

"The other me said you would be coming…"

"Mytho? Yes, Fakir planned the whole escapade with him."

"Un…" Siegfried nodded slightly. "He said that."

The last chain dropped to the ground, and Lohengrin reached out a hand to pull the prince up. As he did so, a sparkle of red caught his eye, and he whipped around just in time to see a translucent form eerily similar to Siegfried dart away.

"What the hell was that?"

Behind him, Siegfried blinked. "Kraehe called it a shard. She said it was me."

"A shard…?"

Could it be…? No, that was impossible. Lohengrin shook his head violently and pulled the prince towards the stairs. They had a princess to hitch a ride from.

--

"W-why are you telling me this?" Tutu said, voice trembling slightly. Kraehe's eyes slid into slits.

"It will be amusing to see you try to rescue them," she said cruelly, and the swan stepped back as if slapped. The white-haired princess was about to make a retort when a shout from behind her made her whirl.

"Tutu! Get us out of here, I got the prince!" Lohengrin lunged for the princess, one arm around Siegfried, the other reaching out for Tutu—

"What?!" Kraehe leaped forward, snarling, but the knight and the princess had grasped hands—

And disappeared in a flash of white, reappearing hundreds of miles away in a shower of pale feathers.

Mist surrounded and whirled from them as Lohengrin sagged to the ground, breathing heavily. Siegfried, still in his grip, followed, and settled to his knees. Tutu, on the other hand, looked up, expression peaceful.

The fog cleared from around them, revealing a large blue lake surrounded by deep green hills. A pair of swans drifting near shore called to the princess, and she made an informal curtsy in their direction. Lohengrin squinted up at her, still panting.

"When you're done fraternizing with your subjects," he snapped pointedly, and the princess's smile dissipated into a worried frown. She kneeled down, glancing anxiously at Siegfried, and back at the knight.

"Do you know how Siegfried lost his heart?"

He did. "Of course. The whole kingdom knows it. Shattered it killing the father of that _bitch._ Gods know why she still loves him."

Tutu's blue eyes were dark and troubled. "Do you know of how it can be returned?"

"It's said that only the fifteenth princess of the swans can do so. He's not going to get it back until you have a daughter." The knight sighed, sitting back on his heels and pressing two fingers to his forehead. Dammit, this chaos was giving him a headache. "The shards disappeared, anyway. Even if you had a daughter, they wouldn't be able to return them."

"… I'm not the fourteenth."

"What?"

Tutu looked guiltily at her hands. "I looked over the family tree… I'm the fifteenth, not the fourteenth."

Well. That was a surprise.

"… Well. That's a surprise." Lohengrin's eyes narrowed until they resembled shards of emerald. "Why the sudden interest in his missing heart?"

"Kraehe told me…"

The princess sat back. A stray cygnet waddled up to her, and she picked it up absently, cradling it in her arms. Tutu stared reflectively out at the lake, and then back at the knight.

"She says she has the shards. All of them."

* * *

**AN: **Possibly moving just a little bit fast.

Next chapter: Hermia is so Ebine's daughter, Tutu does some wtfery at her family tree, and Kraehe is a creeper with a spiderweb.


	2. Akt 2: Over the Hills and Far Away

_Once upon a time, there was a swan._

_Once upon a time, there was a prince._

_Once upon a time, the swan fell in love with the prince, and the prince with the swan. And through arcane magic known only to those of royal blood, he changed his true love from her true form into that of the most beautiful princess, and they wed and had children._

_But there was another kingdom, one whose fate was dark, and only a daughter of the swans could save them…_

--

**Akt 2**

**Over the Hills and Far Away**

"Could she really have found his heart shards?!" _Bang!_ went hands onto the table, and the teacups rattled.

Rue inclined her head, looking faintly troubled. "I didn't know. Really. I had no idea. She hides things from me much better than I hide them from her."

Ahiru blinked a few times, then sat back down. The plump owner, Ebine, swept over from the corner of the room and took away their empty plates.

"And here's your bananas foster," she trilled, producing a pan from nowhere and a lighter from just-as-nowhere. With a flick of her thumb, flames leaped up with a _whoosh_ from the pan, and just as quickly, went out. A girl with puffy brown hair leaped up with a plate, and Ebine dumped the scorched food in.

"There you go," she sang, and spun off. The waitress smiled, carefully setting the plate down in front of them.

"Sorry about that, Mom tends to get a little exuberant with her flambés," she said apologetically. "You're all from the ballet division, aren't you? I'm Hermia."

Rue nodded politely. "It's nice to meet you, Hermia."

The brunette looked like she was about to say more before the owner's voice trilled, "Hermia, darling, a plate for the gentleman!" Hermia glanced in the direction of the call, catching sight of a purple pair of furry ears, and hurriedly straightened up.

"Dig in, you guys, and see you on Monday for classes," she called, hustling away.

Ahiru, who had an expression on her face most closely resembling a shell-shocked duck, stuttered, "S-s-s-she set the bananas on fire."

"That's what a flambé _is,_ moron," Fakir said dismissively, already loading his plate. "Admittedly, that woman is far too enthusiastic about it."

"Pyromania?" Mytho queried. "She couldn't be responsible for any arson in this town recently, could she?"

"Doubtful. We haven't had any arson since she arrived."

"We didn't have much before," Rue put in, forking a slice of banana into her mouth. "But that's not the point. The point is, what are we going to do about this whole shard business?"

"And how did you misread the damn tree?" Fakir demanded of Ahiru, which sent the redhead into a choking fit of indignation. Once she'd managed to stop making strangled noises, she said resentfully, "I didn't read it wrong. I swear it changed. The Story's changing as we go along."

"Hence the sudden reappearance of the heart shards," Rue acknowledged. She absently mashed the ice cream on her plate until it was a sticky mass. "I don't think it would hurt to return them; I mean, none of the stuff in there has affected what happens out here. The closest that came was when you were fighting Kraehe and we kept having to take naps during the daytime to continue."

"So we return the shards." Fakir.

"Yes."

"I wonder how I'll act once I've gotten all the shards back," Mytho mused. "Not the same as in the Waking World, of course, but it won't be the same as right now."

"_I_ wonder why Kraehe told Tutu that," Rue murmured. "It's not really her style. It would be more amusing for her to make Tutu find out on her own, and then quietly go insane trying to return them, while she pulled all the strings."

"It's like I said," Ahiru said seriously. "The Story's changing as we go along. Dunno who's doing it, but _someone_'s pulling _our_ strings."

_Bang!_ This time it was not Ahiru, but Mytho who slammed a hand down on the table. "I won't let them stop us," he announced. "Siegfried _will_ get his heart back, and no puppetmaster or Story-writer can change that."

"Yeah!" Ahiru cheered.

Rue allowed herself a brief smile. "And then after that, we'll see how Kraehe reacts, won't we? Maybe we can do something about her."

"We can only hope," said Fakir pessimistically.

"Shut up, jerk," the redhead chirped, too bright for the words to really have an effect, and bounced up.

"Well," she proclaimed, "I'm really tired, guys, so I think I'm gonna go take a nap. There are things in the Story I want to do before Tutu has to do anything really stressful, like attempt to find a heart shard. Bye!"

And out skipped Ahiru, leaving the others to sit in semi-stunned silence.

Slowly, Fakir turned to stare at Mytho. "… She just skipped out on the bill, didn't she?"

The white-haired boy smiled wryly. "You'd think we aren't used to her doing that by now."

--

Clara... Odette... Tutu.

The princess shook her head, blinking in disbelief, and traced down the line again. Odette, Claire, Odette again... all the way down to Clara, Odette, Tutu. There was no doubt about it, she was definitely the fifteenth daughter.

Which made no sense, because she was certain there hadn't been a second Odette the day before... it had been Odette, Claire, Cygnus, and now there was another Odette sandwiched between Claire and Cygnus. It simply didn't make sense. Was the Story truly changing?...

"Hey."

"Hello, Lohengrin," she said, without turning around, as the knight closed the door of the small house that served as her home when her palace was cloaked. "I really don't understand how this could have happened, besides the Story changing. You've seen this a thousand times before; tell me what you think."

Lohengrin leaned over her shoulder, eyes tracing the tree. "Odette, Claire, Odette, Cygnus, Odile, Deneb... Clara, Odette, Tutu." A frown creased his forehead. "... That's not right. Doesn't it go Odette, Claire, Cygnus?"

The princess sighed bitterly. "That's exactly what I thought. Why are you here, anyway? Did Fakir decide to rest as well?"

"Yes. Something about Rue bothering him. They're not happy that your waking self decided to skip out on them at their restaurant."

Tutu groaned and dropped her head into her hands. "Why is it that we get all these impulses from them, but they don't seem to pick up on any of ours? That was a horrible idea, and I was practically yelling that at her..."

"Ahiru doesn't bother to listen. Fakir is remarkably receptive to some of the ideas I have."

"Like what?"

His expression was unreadable. "I think you'll find out soon enough."

"You're horrible."

"Yes."

After a long moment of silence, the swan princess stood up, rolled the tree back up into a tight scroll, and deposited it in the desk drawer. "Mytho's still awake, I take it," she inquired as she passed Lohengrin on her way out the door. The knight followed, pausing in the doorway. The princess continued out towards the edge of the lake, where she halted, glancing back for an answer.

"Yes," he said, after a brief time. "Apparently he doesn't particularly enjoy being a heartless prince."

"Maybe that's why he's so eager to get his heart back to Siegfried," Tutu proposed. She stepped out onto the water, taking light quick steps to reach an island close to the shore, and took a seat on its firm earth. The knight followed to the edge of the water and sat down. They were easily only ten feet apart.

"Maybe Siegfried's desire to have his heart returned is being expressed through the version of him with a heart," he suggested. "Since he can't feel, his double is feeling for him."

"It's possible." Tutu's eyes suddenly grew troubled. "What does that mean? What will happen to Mytho if we give Siegfried's heart back?"

"Nothing, I should hope. I don't think that Mytho is suddenly going to not want to get Siegfried's heart back when Siegfried has the ability to want it."

"... I hope so."

--

Hundreds of miles away, a shadow was crying.

Princess Kraehe stood on the edge of a balcony, staring into the depths of the black forest. Her hands were clenched on the railing so tightly the knuckles were almost white, and tears glittered in her crimson eyes.

"Thwarted again," she whispered. The wind carried the words away almoste before she could hear them.

"It's that Tutu. She distracts me. Naive and innocent and oh-so-damsel-in-distress - the heartless prince doesn't need a princess like that. The prince needs a princess who can care for him. The prince needs a princess who will control him when he has no direction."

She bared her teeth in the direction of the forest and spun away, striding back into the dark depths of her castle.

Down the stairs she descended, into the underground, and with a wave of her hand a wall disappated into black mist. She stepped through the mist into darkness, confidently moving through the blackness until she came into watery red light.

The light was emitted from a net of red gems, twenty or so, that was strung in a spiderweb fashion before her. As the crow's presence became known, the net shuddered nervously, and a particular jewel close to the center thrashed violently.

"Oh, my poor shards," Kraehe murmured. "My presence upsets you, does it not? It is the resemblance to my father." She reached out to touch a shard at the very center. "Or perhaps you feel for me, but do not wish to do so..."

Her scarlet eyes scanned the shards thoughtfully. "Hmm... what would Princess Tutu hate returning? Sorrow, perhaps... but that is the obvious choice. Fear would be difficult for her, but..." She went silent, staring at the writhing shard. "It already hates my presence."

Another shard, this one sharper than most of the others and slightly smaller, shivered, and she glanced at it. "... Frustration. An apt choice."

Quick as a striking snake, the princess snatched the shard from the net and threw it to the ground. In a flash of sparkles, an red, translucent apparition similar in his appearance to her prince appeared, scowling bitterly. _"I was wondering when you would take me out."_

Kraehe smiled gently. "You have nothing to be envious of, my prince; you are the first shard to be chosen. If you'd consent to do something for me?"

_"Fine."_

"I want you to go back to your prince." She stepped forward, placing a hand on the place where the shard's heart would be if it had one. "Return to him, allow Tutu to see you, and you may return as soon as you've made her so frustrated she can't stand it. Make her feel the disappointment of trying again and again to do something and being thwarted again and again."

For a moment, the shard grinned. _"It will be so disappointing for her."_

"Yes. Now go!"

The shard nodded and dissipated into a shower of scarlet sparkles, which flashed once and disappeared.

And miles from there, Tutu looked up.

"Lohengrin," she said with no small amount of surprise. "The swan pendant... it just glowed."

"What?" In a moment, the knight jumped up, leaping across the water to join her on her island. "Glowed?"

The pendant flashed bright red for a moment, then went dark again. "See? I don't know what it means..."

_"That makes you frustrated, doesn't it?"_ A red, transparent double of the prince stepped out of the mist, eyes gleaming with glee. _"She said I should make you frustrated. It's disappointing for you not to know, isn't it? It's very upsetting."_

Tutu gasped. "You're- oh, no, Lohengrin, Ahiru's trying to wake up- _not now-_!"

The knight stared at the shard, eyes narrowed. Fakir wanted to get the shards back... but what did Fakir know? He was only a dancer who wanted to be a knight. "Who said you should?"

_"The princess clad in raven's feathers."_

"Kraehe!" Lohengrin drew his sword. "Tutu, have Ahiru wake up. These shards may be tainted by that _crow!_ Why the hell didn't Rue tell them about the shards before?!"

"What will happen to the shard?" the swan asked quickly, skittering backwards onto the water. "If we are sent into the Waking state-"

"I don't know, but we can only hope nothing horrible. Now _go!_"

The knight took his own advice and suddenly collapsed to the ground in a stupor. Tutu stared at him with dawning horror, and then glanced back up at the shard.

_"He doesn't know either,"_ it said amicably. _"It disappoints him not to know."_

_Ahiru, please wake up,_ Tutu prayed. For once, Ahiru seemed to pick up on the message, for there was a bright flash of light and the princess fell onto the surface of the water, eyes half-closed and glazed. But as soon as her waking self had jerked upright, a shower of red sparkles appeared and the shard, too, lay comatose.

--

"Got to make... plassweh... borders of... distractions, giant breaths..."

"You're not making sense, Rue," Ahiru said, worriedly. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"... snrrrrrrr..."

Realizing the elder girl was still asleep, the ducklike girl shook her shoulder harder until Rue jerked awake. She looked up at Ahiru with a look that said "_you die in your sleep"_ and said shortly, "What?"

"You were talking in your sleep." The redhead sat down on the edge of Rue's bed as the other girl sighed and propped herself up on the headboard. "What happened in there? Lohengrin and Tutu were talking about what to do and then that shard appeared… And he said Kraehe had told it to make Tutu frustrated."

"Yeah." Rue sighed lengthily, running her fingers through her hair anxiously. "I don't know how she hid this from me, but Kraehe's got the heart shards. All of them. They're all woven together like flies in a spiderweb and they're in a hidden room just off of the dungeon."

Ahiru's eyes grew fearful. "We'll have to go back, won't we?"

"We? _I'll_ be there all the time." Rue snorted sourly. "Of course, my Story self isn't beautiful and light like the rest of you, so maybe you should just keep me awake."

"Rue, you know we can't do that. We need Kraehe. No matter how much you hate her, we need her."

"To do what? Love Siegfried like a possessive girlfriend?" Rue curled her knees up under her chin. "This just really sucks, is all. I know Siegfried can't do anything Mytho asks him to do, and Lohengrin's too stubborn to obey Fakir, and Tutu doesn't listen to you half the time, but Kraehe… She doesn't hear me at all. Unless I'm miserable at one thing or another she's done to Siegfried. And then she laughs at me."

"I know." Resisting the urge to say _You've told me this before,_ Ahiru reached out to grip Rue's wrist. "Now c'mon, we've been sleeping for hours. Fakir woke up right before me, so he's probably freaking out 'cause he thinks I'm back in the Story. Let's go!"

And without another word, she dragged the unwilling Rue out the door.

--

Hours from there, hours from there. The moon was half-full in the sky, blinding the late-night wanderers' view of the stars.

Mytho sat on the sill of the window, in the room he shared with Fakir, and stared down at the courtyard below. Ahiru and Fakir had told him about the shard, and Rue had told him about the net of pieces in her castle—but for some reason, he felt he had known. There had been a pang in his chest a few hours after Ahiru had gone to sleep, and now a steady ache that nearly made him weep—not from pain, but from the pure _irritation_ that came from such a constant ache.

In the building across from him, there was still a light on in the center window. Rue was still awake. It wasn't a surprise; Ahiru had decided to stay with her that night so as to wake her if Kraehe needed to disappear. But the idiot hair wasn't bobbing around; was she sleeping?

"Hey," came a voice from behind him, and the gold-eyed boy glanced over. Fakir gave him a perfunctory nod of greeting and dropped a stack of books next to his bed. "You should go to sleep. Tutu's already in the Story, and so is the shard. Right where it was before."

"How do you know?"

Fakir gave a tired grin. "I just woke up from a very brief nap. Autor probably thinks I'm narcoleptic."

"Shard doing anything interesting?"

"Mainly just trying to make Tutu upset. It keeps giving her cryptic answers to questions and saying things that confuse her." He untied the knot in his hair. "Not that that takes much work. Idiot."

Mytho nodded, then glanced back across the courtyard. Rue was standing in front of the window now, in a dark red nightgown, and she waved at him. He gave her a little wave back. She saluted ironically, and then the light went out and she closed the curtains.

"Rue's gone to bed too," he noted, and slid the curtains of his window shut. The room was plunged into darkness, and he could hear Fakir cursing as he ran into something or other.

"Damn it, Mytho! That is not your cue to make it impossible to see! Where's that lamp Ahiru gave you for your birthday?!"

In the darkness, Mytho allowed himself a small grin. "Right here, Fakir," and he flicked it on. A soft yellow light illuminated the room, and Fakir – who had apparently run straight into his bed and bashed his knees – glared at him.

"You are a complete moron," he stated, and promptly dropped into bed. Within seconds he was asleep, although whether it was because he was genuinely tired or because Lohengrin needed him wasn't clear to Mytho. Probably both, he supposed, and got up with a sigh.

"Good night, feelings, I'll see you in the morning," the white-haired boy muttered, and curled up under the blankets, closing his eyes.

* * *

**AN:** Like Tutu says, the Story selves pick up on all sorts of mental things from their Waking selves. Like Tutu can sense when Ahiru's miffed at her for one thing or another, Siegfried basically relays what Mytho's thinking, etc. Kraehe... doesn't listen, at all. Stubborn raven.

Next time: Kraehe does more creeper stuff with her spiderweb, Tutu returns a shard, and there's an insane amount of awkward in the Waking World.


	3. Akt 3: Hide and Seek

_Once upon a time, there was a raven._

_Once upon a time, there was a prince who had a heart._

_The raven was ordered by her father to steal from the prince's castle, but upon coming to see the prince, she fell in love with him and his beauty. She confessed her attraction to him as soon as she could, but the prince was not one who loved everyone, and he laughed and spat in her face._

_And so the raven-daughter was cast out of his kingdom in shame, and she died broken, with the prince not ever knowing the extent of her love._

--

**Akt 3**

**Hide and Seek**

Black ballet shoes slapped on stone floor as the crow princess walked down the darkened hall. Anxiety had struck her abruptly and violently, and she felt the need to check on the shard net. It was that damn Tutu, she knew it. Why they thought Rue could hide their plans from her, she would never know. But best not to tell Rue that, in case the beautifully moronic girl stopped helping her other self.

She emerged from the blackness into a haze of red light, and her gaze flicked around the net, accounting for all the shards. Her heart leaped when she saw a hole in her net, but then she recalled that she had _sent_ that shard out, to be returned to the prince only after it made Tutu deliciously, delightfully upset.

… _What had possessed her to do that?!_

Tutu was an idiot! A complete moron! She wouldn't be upset over a simple thing like a shard evading her! Disgusted with herself, Kraehe whirled and punched the wall with a sickening crack.

"_Damn _it," she hissed, examining the scraped knuckles. At least she hadn't broken her fingers.

"_You feel like I do, don't you?"_

"Who said that?" She whipped back towards the net, only to see another hole where a shard had previously rested. A shard that, now, was staring at her with worried eyes.

"_Is your hand all right?"_ it asked, sounding concerned, and Kraehe shook her head to clear it. "Fine," she said shortly, and it nodded.

"_You feel like me."_

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"_You're feeling the emotion I'm supposed to be."_

"What's your name?"

"_Anxiety…"_

Anxiety? How was that possible? Kraehe stepped backwards, shaking. "How did you get free? I didn't release you from that net!"

"_You were upset. It felt like me. Those feelings called me out."_

No. No, that wasn't supposed to happen. That net was supposed to be impenetrable. Only she could release the shards that she'd so painstakingly connected.

"_Now you feel like me,"_ said another voice, similar to the first, and the raven whirled around to find herself face-to-face with another shard.

"No!" Kraehe was trembling visibly now, and her eyes turned back to the net. There was another hole! _Another hole!_ "What's going on!? This _isn't happening!_"

"_No, it's not,"_ the second shard said, and the raven turned on it, fuming.

"What are you, the shard of denial?!"

"_No!… well, actually, yes…"_

She sank to the ground, burying her face in her hands. No. No. Her beautiful plan was crumbling to shreds around her because of a badly woven net.

"_I'm sorry,"_ said another shard, this one with eyes that seemed to be more than a little bit sad. It kneeled down beside her, placing a weightless hand on her shoulder. _"I know how you feel."_

"Go," she rasped. "All of you, just go."

And she had barely realized what a horrible mistake that was when all of the gem shards suddenly sparked bright red, and out of nowhere appeared over a dozen scarlet apparitions with her prince's face.

"_Back to the prince,"_ they said as one, then Anxiety whispered, _"Should we go along with the orders she gave Frustration?"_

"_It might be fun to make Tutu work to return us,"_ giggled another shard. It grinned slyly, almost bouncing in its eagerness to play this most interesting of tricks.

"_Then let's do it,"_ another shard announced. _"The prince may need us, but if we're to play with his princess before we go in, we should go."_

One by one, the shards all winked out.

And as the net had been providing the light, Kraehe was left alone in complete and utter darkness.

--

Like most of us, and all ravens, the princess had a secret.

It was a secret that most of her enemies would probably not kill to know, and it was more embarrassing than a fatal flaw, but it had caused her enough grief in her lifetime. She had stayed up for countless nights with terror in her heart because of it, unable to sleep as her eyes darted from corner to corner in her room. And it was a secret that hit her now, as she crouched alone in the blackness.

Princess Kraehe, feared princess of the ravens, who could eat you for breakfast without even cooking you… was afraid of the dark.

She fought down a scream, shutting her eyes as tightly as she could. All the other times passing through this darkness, it was in the knowledge that light waited on the other end. But now she couldn't see to decide which way led her back to the cells and which way would lead her into an endless maze of dark passages. The thought made her want to scream again.

This time she couldn't entirely stifle it, and instead emitted a choked whine of terror.

And red sparked to life behind her.

"_You feel like I do, don't you?"_ whispered a shard, which had crouched down behind her with wide, fearful eyes. _"Are you scared too?"_

What the hell. Why couldn't she admit this to a shard that was perfectly aware of how she felt anyway? "Terrified," she replied, and immediately hated herself.

"_Can I stay with you?"_

"What?"

"_Tutu can't find me if I stay with you. And out there is too frightening. I'm scared…"_

Tutu couldn't find it… If Tutu couldn't find the shard, she wouldn't be able to return it, would she? And that meant she would be ever so sad.

Oh-so-damsel-in-distress. And with his heart, Siegfried would see that she was definitely _not_ his princess.

"Yeah," she murmured, and the shard smiled suddenly with elation. _"Oh, thank you,"_ it enthused, wrapping its arms around her shoulders as she stood up. Its light was enough to see a few paces ahead of her.

"_The way out is that way," _it said helpfully, pointing to her left, and she gave it a grateful nod, setting off in that direction. The shard wrapped its legs around her waist, becoming something of a piggyback rider, and although she could see its translucent arms around her shoulders, she felt nothing.

"_It's going to make Princess Tutu upset when she can't find me, right?"_ it queried, and Kraehe nodded reassuringly.

"It's going to make her very, very upset."

"_Okay."_

--

"You can go back, but you won't?" the swan princess clarified.

"_Kraehe said I need to make you upset before I could go back," _the shard said stubbornly.

"You've been at this for at least half an hour," noted Lohengrin, who was currently leaning against the wall with a bored expression on his face. "The prince thinks he wants his heart back – at least, Mytho's telling him he should – and his waking double is bothering him about it. Mytho's getting impatient. Hell, the _swans_ are getting impatient, and their brains are the size of walnuts. Kinda like you. Just make the shard go back."

Suddenly feeling angry, Tutu whirled on the knight. "It won't go back unless it _wants_ to, you – to use Fakir's favorite word – _idiot,_" she snapped. "It's not like I can just say _shard, return to Siegfried,_ and—"

"_I made you upset, didn't I?"_

She made herself turn away from Lohengrin to glare at the shard, which was becoming strangely blurry. "Yes, okay, you made me upset. Don't you think you'd be upset too if the shard you were supposed to return was being a—"

"_I can return?"_ the shard asked, as if just stumbling across this information, and Tutu wiped her hands across her eyes and nodded.

"If you'd just let me…"

The shard suddenly smiled, stepping forward to take her hand. _"Thank goodness. It was very cold in the net, and one of the shards was dressed in black..."_

With a sparkle of light, the apparition disappeared, leaving a faceted ruby-like stone in her hand. The pendant around Tutu's neck glowed, then faded back to deep red, and the door to the small house opened.

"Tutu?" Siegfried asked softly, peering around the door, and the swan turned towards him, smiling brilliantly.

"I have a shard, prince," she told him, and lifted her hands to show him, wondering vaguely how it would return—

—and the shard promptly shot forward and sank into Siegfried's chest.

The prince cried out, stumbling backwards against the door. Tutu had time to think _oh no, I did something wrong and the shard's hurting him_, and then was unexpectedly tackled by an angry knight.

"What did you _do,_ you _idiot?!_" he yelled. Quietly paralyzed with shock, the swan didn't even try to free herself from where she was pinned against the wall, and was in the middle of stuttering out something unintelligible when the prince suddenly gasped, somewhat like a swimmer emerging from deep water.

"Lohengrin?"

"Siegfried?" The knight dropped Tutu's shoulders and she slumped to the ground. Ignoring this, he strode over to the formerly-heartless prince and put a hand on his shoulder, examining his face. "Are you okay?"

"Un…" He nodded after a moment, looking faintly bewildered. "It feels… different…"

"Different? How?"

"… I don't know…"

The prince's eyes suddenly widened, and he stared at Lohengrin. "Mytho… he's…"

And promptly collapsed.

Lohengrin carefully set him down on the small bed in the corner and looked back at Tutu. The swan was still curled up in the opposite corner, looking completely shell-shocked.

… _Idiot._

"Tutu," he snapped, and she looked up sharpish, startled. "Mytho must have woken up. Something might have gone wrong. Wake Ahiru up, _now,_ and shout at her until she crosses the courtyard, _with Rue._ Fakir'll open the door. Go!"

Almost simultaneously, the knight dropped to the floor as the swan slumped back against the wall.

--

Ahiru jerked wide awake and flung herself out of the bed she was currently occupying. She flew across the five feet of space separating her from Rue and pounced on the sleeping girl.

"RUE! RUE RUE RUE! WAKE UP!"

She shook her frantically, almost spastically, and as soon as the elder shot upright she was being dragged towards the door.

"What?! What happened!? AHIRU, WHAT HAPPENED!?"

"I don't _know,_ something happened and Mytho woke up and ohmygodohmygodohmygod! Lohengrin said Fakir would open the door now come on!"

The two burst out of the girls' dorms, raced across the courtyard, and bashed through the double doors into the boys' dorms—

—just as Fakir got there to open the door.

The result was an awkward collision in which Ahiru's eye got bashed by someone's elbow, Rue was thrown completely sideways, and Fakir ended up on the ground, half-stunned, with Ahiru lying on top of him and Rue in a corner near the door.

And of course, who would come across this completely awkward scene?

"Fakir, what are you- oh."

A young man with blue hair and a pair of glasses—which he was currently holding in one hand—blinked at the scene, and opened his mouth to say something probably snide when Rue stirred and groaned.

"Is that you, Autor?" Without waiting for a reply, she continued, "If that is, then leave us alone, because I am in pain and I tend to attack people when I am in pain."

"…"

And the last they saw of him was the flash of light off of his retreating blue head. Rue wasn't kind to her former lovers.

With a muttered curse, Fakir shoved Ahiru off of his chest and sat up, rubbing his head. "Idiot, what did you do that for?"

"If you hadn't been in front of the door—!"

"Again with the sexual tension!" Rue interrupted, staggering to her feet. "What happened to Mytho? That is the whole reason we charged over here in the first place!"

"Right! Mytho! Okay! Let's go!" Ahiru sprang up and flew off down the hall, disappearing up the stairs. They could hear her footsteps on the steps and then above their heads, and the abrupt bash of a door being flung open.

Rue and Fakir exchanged glances, and then both made a dash for the stairs.

When they got to the room, Mytho was sitting on the windowsill as usual, Ahiru's lamp was on, and the ducklike girl was hovering around him. "Are you sure you're okay, Mytho?"

"Fine," he said tonelessly, and for the second time in as many minutes, Rue and Fakir exchanged glances. _Did something go wrong?_ Rue mouthed, and Fakir shrugged.

_It's not like we've done this before,_ he mouthed back, and the red-eyed girl turned her worried gaze onto Mytho.

The pale boy gave himself a sudden shake and grinned at the three. "Sorry about that," he said cheerfully. "It was a bit of a shock having Siegfried's heart returned, and I suppose it surprised me enough to wake me up. Did everything go according to plan, whatever the plan was?"

"I think so," Rue said quietly. "But Kraehe… did something. She messed up. She messed up really badly. I don't know if that's a good thing for us or a really, really bad thing… she _never _messes up."

Fakir started in surprise. "What? What happened?"

"She… accidentally let all the shards go, I think. She told them to go away and they all left the net and I think they're wandering around in the Story, now."

"Oh, great," Ahiru groaned. She flumped onto the window seat besides Mytho and puffed out her cheeks in exasperation. "So not only did Tutu freak out about returning one shard, now we have to find more and return all of them?"

"It's like a demented game of hide and seek," Mytho acknowledged, poking the redhead's ballooned cheek. The air blew out of her mouth with a noise similar to that of an enraged elephant. Ignoring the smirks on both Rue and Fakir's faces (and Ahiru's squeak of protest as she rolled off the window seat), the pale boy continued, "or Tag."

"Hide and seek, I can get, but Tag?" Rue raised her eyebrows and carefully stepped over the writhing Ahiru, taking a seat on the window seat beside Mytho. She took his hand gently. "There's a shard with Kraehe right now."

"What?" Ahiru lurched upright, staring at Rue with wide blue eyes. "What happened?!"

"There was a shard… I think it was Fear, but it latched onto her after…" She hesitated for a moment, then mumbled, "… after she let all the shards go, and it got really dark."

Unable to hold it in, Fakir snorted. "Wait," he said, crossing his arms, "Kraehe—_our_ Kraehe, you mean, we're not talking about the Kraehe in the next dorm over—the all-powerful, terrifying lady of the ravens that stole Siegfried's heart—the one who scares the living hell out of everyone who meets her—is afraid of the _dark?_"

Rue flushed. "Yes. But don't let Lohengrin know. She'll be really… upset at me."

Fakir smirked. "Oh, I won't tell him… yet."

"Wait, wait, wait, the shard latched onto her?" Ahiru interrupted in the middle of a retort from the other girl. "What does that mean?"

"I don't know… it said something about how she felt like it, and then it asked her if it could stay with her… she said yes, but I don't know if she said it because she didn't know what else to do or because she really needed it there…"

She was quiet for a moment, then leaned back onto Mytho's shoulder. "I think it reminded her of Siegfried. She really does love him."

"She just expresses it weird!" Ahiru grinned widely and thumped back onto the floor. She stared thoughtfully at the ceiling. "Tutu's right, though, it doesn't make sense that she loves him so much, but she hurts him like that."

Nobody saw it, but something dark flashed in Mytho's eyes, and he tightened his grip on Rue's hand.

--

Someone was shaking her.

Someone was shaking her, and it didn't make her happy.

Someone was _shaking her awake,_ and if they didn't back off, they would soon have a very angry Ahiru trying to eat them alive.

Ahiru liked her pillow time.

So the redhead wrenched her eyes open and reeled upright, making a noise that sounded like what a roar would if it came from a baby lamb. She half-shouted something that sounded like "duck army" and was about to flail at whoever was shaking her as violently as possible when it suddenly registered who was submitting her to such an indignity.

"Fakir?" She blinked. "What are you doing here?"

"I live here, idiot. You and Rue fell asleep here last night."

Once she'd had time to process this information, it did seem to her that she wasn't actually sleeping on the thin mattress that was on her bed in her own room. Rather, she seemed to be on… an actual bed? Ahiru rubbed her eyes. Yeah, this was definitely Fakir's bed; there were about fifty books stacked up next to her. The window seat had obviously been slept in, judging by the pillow and sheet draped over it. And—

Ahiru instantly turned the color of a ripe tomato and turned away, staring determinedly at the opposite wall. No, she did not need to see Mytho and Rue sharing a bed. Not very first thing in the morning. Not at all. No.

"Relax, moron," Fakir said dismissively. "They didn't do anything. Thank God, or we would have to kick them out before they got us suspended."

"Ungh… Morning, Ahiru," mumbled Rue, sitting up blurrily. "And Fakir. And Mytho. … wait, you're still sleeping…"

"He's lucky," huffed Ahiru, and shoved Fakir off the bed. He hit the floor with a yelp of surprise and more than a little anger. "I was sleeping just fine without you shaking me like there was a fire, you jerk!"

"I was just waking you up so you could get back to your own damn dorms before someone decided to come over and find out why you two didn't go back last night!"

Feet away, Rue gave a heavy sigh and rubbed her temples. "We really should get out of here, it's what… six?"

"Sun's coming up," Fakir muttered, still glowering at Ahiru. "See you at Ebine's."

"Whatever. The drama division is showing their production of _Pippin_ tonight, we could catch that." She swung out of the bed and grabbed the end of Ahiru's braid, eliciting a squeak of pain from the redhead.

"QWAAAUGH- OW OW OW OW-"

"_Pippin?_ … I think I'll pass." Fakir's lips twitched slightly as he tried to suppress a grin. Why did everyone laugh at her pain, Ahiru griped to herself, struggling weakly in her friend's grip.

"OW. OW. OW. RUE. LET GO. RUE. OW."

"Kay. 'night again," Rue yawned, and trundled slowly out the door, dragging Ahiru in her wake.

It wasn't until they were halfway across the courtyard that she noticed the sudden addition to the ducklike girl's wardrobe.

"Where did you get that pendant?"

Ahiru stopped rubbing her head and glaring at Rue and glanced down.

A simple gem was nestled in the center of her chest, just below her collarbone, on a thin copper chain. Smooth and imperfectly oval-shaped, wider at the end than the base attached to the chain, it was poppy-colored and felt heavy in Ahiru's hand when she picked it up.

"I don't know," she said truthfully. "I wasn't wearing it last night. Do you think one of them put it on me?"

Rue shrugged. "It's possible, I suppose, though Fakir doesn't do things like that, and Mytho would have no reason to. Do you mind if I hold it?"

"Nah." Ahiru reached back to unhook the necklace. As soon as the clasp came undone, she shuddered violently and rubbed her arms.

"That felt really weird," she murmured, passing Rue the necklace. The dark-haired girl held it by its chain, peering closely at the gem. Something about it... reminded her of Kraehe, almost. Kraehe, or perhaps Siegfried...

No.

"You know what this thing reminds me of?" she announced, as they came to her room door. "For some reason, this reminds me of Tutu. Her necklace. It's very odd, I can't imagine _why..._ hold it, would you?"

She returned the pendant to Ahiru, and as she rummaged for her keys, Ahiru set the jewel in her palm, peering at it closely.

"You're right, Rue, it kind of does feel like that-"

The door to Rue's room swung open and the two stepped in. "But," the ducklike girl continued, "it doesn't look like it at all, I mean, Tutu's has wings and it's not on a chain like this and-"

"Let me see it again," Rue interrupted, snatching the gem away.

Her clutching fingers shielded the momentary scarlet glow that neither of them saw.

"It doesn't look at all like it," she admitted, "other than the color. But Ahiru, you _know_ that things don't have to be at all alike to be related-"

"Yeah, yeah," the redhead huffed. She _hmph_ed indignantly, folding her arms. "I know Tutu and me are nothing alike, but you don't have to rub it in-"

"I'm not-"

"Give it back-"

"Oh, fine, here-"

Rue glared at Ahiru, who was looking determinedly away as she fastened the clasp on the pendant. Or tried. Hard.

And was failing, equally hard.

Finally, after what seemed like an interminable amount of time, Rue exploded, "Oh, for goodness' sake, let me close it."

Ahiru sighed and handed the necklace over again, then flipped her braid over her shoulder. While Rue carefully hooked the chain closed, the redhead fiddled with the end of her it, braiding mini-locks into the end and nervously unbraiding it again.

"That was really weird," she said suddenly. "We don't know where it came from, and then we started fighting over it, and what's going on, Rue? Do you think it could have come from the Story?"

"That's ridiculous," snapped the elder, roughly pulling Ahiru's braid back into its usual place. "Nothing gets out of the Story besides the others' consciousness, and nothing goes in except for ours. It could just have been a gift from one of the guys."

"Maybe," mused Ahiru. "It just seems kinda strange, that's all."

"Go back to sleep."

"Kay."

As soon as her head hit the pillow, the ducklike girl was out like a light. As her snores filled the room, Rue clambered back into her own bed. And stayed up.

She stared past her knees, tucked up under her chin, and into the dimly lit room. _That pendant... I could have sworn it felt familiar. It doesn't feel that much like Kraehe, though... and it only reminds me a little of Tutu's pendant..._

_... Siegfried. It reminds me of Siegfried... or maybe Mytho..._

Finally, when she could no longer keep her eyes propped open, Rue curled up under the sheets and closed her eyes.

And in the darkness, from Ahiru's bed, there came a brief, soft red glow.

* * *

**AN: **Okay, first of all, I'd like to thank the reviewers and the people who subscribed to this story. Dude, you guys rock my socks. But I'd like to clarify for _Moon Shadow Magic_- this isn't IRL and RPG. X3; It's real-world and dream-world, and an explanation of just how the Story came about will be coming up. In a while. Like, chapter 14 or so. (Soz!) Also, to _RodentOfUnusualSize-_ I love your name. Uh, that's about it.

And _Willowleaf2560-_ Dude. I love you so hard. Your review kind of sent little shivers of happy up through my toes. (It was long and the first review on a fic I'm psyched about - auto-points.) Yeah, my take on Mytho is a little different, but then again he does have his heart. And grew up with Ahiru, after all.

And to all of you - dude, thanks.

Next time on One Time, One Dream (ahaha, I feel like a nerd): Mysterious pendant remains mysterious, Tutu and Kraehe have a face-off that results in shard drama, Mytho has a hissy fit, and Lohengrin has suspicions.


	4. Akt 4: Amaranth

**AN:** To enhance your reading experience (ahaha, the author's such a nerd), please begin playing Danse Macabre by Camille Saint-Saëns when you read the mark (**1**).

That is all. Larger **AN** at the end.

--

_Once upon a time, there was a princess._

_The princess was not one prone to falling in love, nor did she believe in the concept of love itself- she simply wanted to make all the world's treasures hers, to be able to say that she was the only owner of whatever treasure you were likely to name. Greed and avarice were her only loves._

_Once upon a time, there was a slave who the princess ordered to steal a particular flower; a flower with golden petals and silver leaves, which life never left. The slave went off to retrieve it from its owners. He was captured in the attempt, but the true owners of the flower realized what had happened and let him stay with them, forever, in happier conditions than he had ever been in._

_And the covetous princess wasted away by the window of her castle, waiting and waiting for that beautiful flower to be hers alone._

**Akt 4**

**Amaranth**

--

"No, I'm pretty sure that I didn't give you that necklace, Ahiru."

"Are you _sure?_" the redhead pressed, dropping the red pendant back onto her chest. "Like, you didn't buy it or anything and then put it on me and forget about putting it on?"

Mytho's lips quirked, and he shook his head, then shifted in his seat. "Nope," he said easily. With an over exaggerated yawn, he propped his foot up on his knee and stretched. "The drama quarter is so slow, we've been here for at least half an hour already... Anyway, I can truthfully say that I have never seen that thing before in my life."

Ahiru sighed. Rue had no idea, Mytho hadn't given it to her, and she had yet to see Fakir. And she was fairly certain what he'd say, anyway. _Don't waste time on stupid things like that, moron. We have bigger things to worry about._

It didn't seem really right to involve Story business in the waking world, anyway. It just made her head hurt when Tutu started shouting at her.

"Well, okay," she mumbled. "And Fakir didn't say anything about it either?"

The pale boy's smile widened, and he raised his eyebrows knowingly at her. "Did you want him to be the one who gave it to you?"

"AFSJKLNRLMRFNGR- NO! I WOULDN'T WANT A GIFT FROM SUCH A COMPLETE JERK!"

"Your opinion of me is so high," Fakir said dryly, as he came up behind the two. He gave Mytho a nod of greeting and rolled his eyes at his companion, dropping into a seat one down from Mytho. "Idiot. Don't shout things you don't want other people to hear at the top of your voice."

Ahiru, whose face was almost a darker red than her hair, babbled unintelligibly for a moment, then clapped her hands over her mouth. The taller boy took no notice, merely nodded towards the addition to her wardrobe and inquired neutrally, "Since when do you wear jewelry?"

Mytho blinked. "You mean you didn't give it to her?"

"Why would I give her a necklace?" Fakir raised a single eyebrow at his roommate.

"But-but-but-but I had it on when Rue and I were going back to the dorm," Ahiru said lamely, suddenly at a loss. "I thought it might have come from one of you guys, 'cause I didn't have it before..."

"Weird." Fakir shrugged, staring coolly at the curtained stage. "Remind me why I came here again?"

"To watch a pretty boy sing about how his life is horrible and watch well-choreographed ballet numbers?" suggested Mytho. His golden eyes twinkled slightly. "It's why Rue comes."

"Moron. Don't compare me to Rue."

Speak of the devil and she shall appear, or so they said. "Oh thanks," came the very subject's sarcastic voice, and Rue settled lightly into the seat between Mytho and Fakir. Unlike the rest of them, who were casually dressed in their respective favorites, she'd actually dressed up for the occasion, in a delicate black gown that was reminiscent of Kraehe's tutu. "Actually, I came because the drama quarter wanted me to play Catherine. I told them no, but I'd come to their first showing. I hate it. It always happens."

Everyone knew she was lying. Not about being asked to play the lead female, of course, but about coming simply for that reason.

But everyone let her keep her pride anyway.

Mytho sighed, dissatisfied. "Rue, you're making us look bad."

"Rue always makes us look bad," Ahiru mumbled.

"No," interrupted the dark-haired girl, reaching across Mytho to smack Ahiru's mouth closed. "No pity parties. This is _Pippin._ You can't feel sorry for yourself while watching it."

"Who are we supposed to feel sorry for, the left-handed protagonist?" Fakir asked caustically.

"Exactly."

As if on cue, the lights dimmed suddenly and the scarlet curtain rippled.

"Ladies and gentlemen," declared a brunette wearing black-and-white performer's clothes, as she stepped gracefully from between the curtains. "Boys and girls! The Gold Crown Traveling Entertainer's Troupe is proud, at last, to present the one and only production of _Pippin!_"

_"His Life and Times!"_

The curtains slid upward, revealing a troupe of other students in the same garb as the lead, carrying a huge hand-lettered sign upon which "_Pippin_" was painted in messy scrawl. Fakir's eyes closed partly as the leader continued, "Please disregard any rumors, lies, articles, or words of mouth you have heard of this legendary figure..."

There was really no point to this, Fakir reflected, tapping his fingers on the arm of his chair. He knew for a fact he'd be asleep by the end of the first horrifying number, no matter how loud it was, and that Ahiru would probably be in the same state by the rebellion section. Mytho, of course, would stay wide awake. Whether that was because he wanted to please Rue or because he was simply interested was unclear to Fakir, but either way, it didn't really satisfy how the boy could actually stay awake through all this.

His eyes drooped. Despite getting enough sleep the night before, there was no shaking the fact that he was completely exhausted. Who wouldn't be exhausted after having their alter-ego's prince suddenly regain a piece of his heart and freak out? And then having to wake up with them to open the door for a pair of girls that were about as annoying as a wooden stake shoved under their big toenail?

Well, Rue was as annoying as a wooden stake shoved under his big toenail. Mytho liked his little joke; that she and Fakir got along like a pair of feuding siblings. _More like feuding archrivals,_ Rue had retorted.

_Same thing._

Ahiru… well, she wasn't quite so much annoying as… well, yes, she was annoying. But not nearly stake-under-the-toenail annoying. Fakir's eyes slid over to the ducklike girl. Yes, she _was_ struggling to keep her eyes open.

Not stake-under-the-toenail. Maybe just inept-dumbass annoying. Satisfied with this description, Fakir propped his hands up behind his head and closed his eyes, thoughts wandering off.

Someone had given her that necklace. And it wasn't Mytho, he was certain. Mytho wouldn't get Ahiru a necklace; he saved his sappy, expensive stuff for Rue. And it hadn't been Fakir; he never bothered getting the idiot anything. She broke it all. The last thing he'd gotten Ahiru had been one of those horribly gaudy glass-bead bracelets for her birthday; blue and yellow. She'd worn it for days, until one badly timed pirouette had sent her flying into a wall and smashed it.

She'd cried for hours…

That _necklace…_ If it wasn't a gift from Mytho and it wasn't a gift from him, who could it be from? Rue, possibly… but the sincerity in Ahiru's voice when she said that Rue had been just as surprised as she had was still ringing in his ears, and he was fairly certain that Rue had been completely shocked by the appearance of the pendant.

That necklace.

That _necklace…_

Maybe Rue was just a good actress. She'd managed to convince them all that she was completely furious with them after a particularly violent incident when they were young. He couldn't quite remember what it was about—someone stole something that showed up in Rue's locker, and nobody knew who'd done it or something like that—but despite that, he clearly recalled her storming around in a towering rage for at least two weeks, although they all knew she would get over it and go back to being their best friend again.

That necklace.

It reminded him horribly of the Story, which was never a good thing. Things that reminded him of the Story were never good; the river reminded him of the river that flowed into Tutu's lake, where Lohengrin and Kraehe had had a horrible stand-off a few months ago, while the spiky-tipped and dark-stoned church reminded him disturbingly of Kraehe's castle.

That necklace.

That _necklace…_

--

It wasn't the anxiety of before; it wasn't a nagging ache in the back of her head that made her antsy. It was fear.

That was the only way to describe it.

She jumped at everything that moved in the shadows, and she was exhausted after days of sleeplessness, even with the Waking state—which actually wasn't very restful in the first place. But it was just so _dark._

The second day after taking that stupid shard. Kraehe was sitting numbly on the windowsill of her room, eyes glazed. Gods, she was horrifically tired…

"_Sorry,"_ the shard said from its place in the corner of the room, where it was leaning. "_I didn't mean to keep you awake... but it's so scary out there, and it's much safer in your heart..._"

_Yeah, right._ "Leave me alone. Go haunt someone else for a while."

"_I can't. It's safe with you._"

"No, it's not, shard. You should just go."

"_I can't…_"

The shard… it reminded her so much of her prince. Kraehe sighed bitterly and nodded in the shard's direction, a yawn suddenly marring her face. "Damn you," she mumbled in its direction, and slipped off of the sill. She stumbled a few paces towards her feather-covered nest and toppled in, curling up in the very center.

A few minutes of sleep… then she'd be ready to go about the business of recollecting all of the shards…

She bolted upright again suddenly. The remains of a scream was lingering in her ears, and as her burgundy eyes darted around the room, it suddenly registered that that was her own scream. And it was dark. She could just see stars out of the window…

What had happened?! She'd gone to sleep for just a moment…

Random, blurry memories floated back… singing, figures dressed in black and white cavorting on a stage, red curtains. A girl with braided orange hair leaping around in front of her, with someone who—her stomach lurched—looked sickeningly like her prince regarded her with warm golden eyes.

Eyes that he would only look at Rue at.

Not her.

Never her.

With a groan, Kraehe dropped her face into her hands. Dammit! Rue had woken up while she slept, and gone about the day as usual! "How long did I sleep?" she mumbled.

"_The sun fell and the moon rose,_" the shard said helpfully from where it was huddled against the edge of her nest. "_There was a noise somewhat like a large bird from the woods…"_ The memory seemed to scare the shard, and it unfolded itself and crawled closer to Kraehe, as if for comfort.

Being a tactless Raven, she shied away from it with some amount of disgust. "Don't be so childish, there are plenty of large birds in these woods!"

"_That's worse!" _Now looking completely terrified, the shard curled up right beside her, wrapping insubstantial arms around her waist. "_It's so frightening…_"

Ugh. This shard was rather like an overgrown, easily scared baby. Were all of them like this? Tentatively, she patted it on the head, surprised to feel her hand stopped by hair instead of going straight through. "You can stay with me. It's okay…"

"_Really?_"

"Yes, really."

"_Thank goodness…_"

A shard, Kraehe reflected. She could make do with a shard.

But the prince…

The prince was someone she could touch. Someone whose hair she could run her fingers through, someone whose hands she could make touch her face, someone whose lips she could kiss with no resistance… She could make do with a shard, yes, but a shard… a shard would not be enough.

This shard… it would run if she tried to kiss it, would run if she told it she loved it. It was far too afraid of everything to be her prince.

No. A shard would not be enough.

And she needed to get rid of it, anyway, it was causing her enough grief.

Heaving a great sigh, Kraehe put a hand on the shard's cheek. "Look. I have to go for a moment, but I'll be back. Don't be scared."

"… _but it's so dark…_"

_Don't remind me._ "You'll live," she said shortly, and closed her eyes…

--

Miles from there, miles from there. Tutu wove and unwove her fingers nervously. Yes, she knew she needed to go and retrieve the heart shard of Fear, but was it so important that Rue would really wake up to bother Ahiru about it? Was it so important that Lohengrin needed to go too?

Said knight was currently sheathing his sword behind her, scowling as per usual. "Can we get on with this, _princess?_" he inquired shortly. "Mytho's going to try to keep Siegfried as quiet as possible, and of course the swans will be around the house, but it'd be a lot safer if you'd uncloak your castle and—"

"It would also be difficult to find him," interrupted the swan, tossing her short white hair as she turned to look at him. "You recall being lost in there when we were younger, don't you?"

Ugh… scarring memories… days of wandering around until he was finally discovered. Lohengrin shuddered. "I do, and I also recall that it was you who led me into those corridors."

"It isn't my fault if you have a terrible sense of direction, Sir," Tutu shot back, and turned back towards the lake. Behind her, a band of over two dozen swans was seated around the house, eyes alert. "The swans will be enough. We can't risk returning him to his home; Queen Edel could be susceptible to Kraehe."

"I," ground out Lohengrin, "am perfectly aware of that. In fact, I seem to remember being the very person who informed you of her vulnerability."

"And for that, I thank you."

"… So? Move it. We have a shard to rescue and Fakir's getting antsy."

Tutu cracked a smile for the first time since returning from the Waking state, and reached out a hand…

They reappeared in a shower of white in the front hall of Kraehe's castle, immediately stumbling away from each other as soon as the feathers dissipated. The sound of their footsteps echoed eerily in the empty hall.

And then there was silence.

"This is strange," Lohengrin murmured, drawing his sword once more. "She's usually here to greet us."

"Rue may still be awake," Tutu replied, equally quietly, and tiptoed across the stone to stand beside him. "It's a possibility."

"Perhaps. But if I know Rue, she'll be eager to get back in, just so she can be in on the action."

"Hmm."

A harsh caw suddenly rang out from behind them, and Tutu whirled around, letting out a shrill cry at what was coming for them.

A giant raven.

The bird slammed right into her, knocking her to the ground, and perched on her abdomen, claws shredding into her dress. It regarded her with half-curious, half-mocking eyes, then leaped into the air, barely missing the blade of the knight's sword.

"Filthy crow!" Lohengrin spat, backing away with weapon held up defensively. "Tutu! Go get the shard! I'll hold it off until we can get out of here!"

The swan princess nodded quickly and lurched upright. The pendant glowed softly when she turned in the direction of the stairs, so she sprinted for the staircase as behind her, the sound of sword on claw was clearly audible.

Up, up, up. The stairs were annoyingly uneven, and the moon was distracting whenever it shone through one of the many windows the tower walls were peppered with. Ahiru would have tired ages ago; but Tutu, used to such feats when in Kraehe's castle, emerged on the top landing with the pendant glowing strongly. The shard… was very close…

But Kraehe…

Kraehe should have stopped her by now. Perhaps Rue really had stayed awake…

"_You're Tutu,_" someone murmured, sounding slightly nervous, and a red glow glittered to life, floating just outside of the doorway. "_Kraehe told me you would be coming…_"

"Kraehe?"

"_Un… she said I should just give in to you…"_

That… that was strange. Incredibly strange. Kraehe didn't give up. Kraehe _never_ just gave up.

"Hmm," Tutu mumbled thoughtfully, stepping forward towards the shard. _Perhaps Rue finally helped her realize that what she was doing to the prince was wrong. At last…_

"You can return to the prince, you know," she said gently, and extended a hand towards the shard. "I can help."

"_But… but the prince…_" The shard's lower lip jutted out petulantly as it shied away. "_The prince cut us all out in the first place…_"

"He won't do it again."

"_Leave me alone. He'll cut me out again…_"

"No, he—"

"_Leave me _alone!"

From nowhere the shard whipped a sword, as scarlet and translucent as it, and swung it at the princess' throat. She dropped back onto the ground to miss it, rolling backwards and to her knees in the same movement.

"No! Stop—"

"_No!"_ The shard stared at her for a moment more, then dropped the sword, which disappeared as it hit the ground. It stumbled back for a few paces, then turned and ran.

"NO!"

In an instant, Tutu sprang to her feet and sprinted after it in pursuit. Yet no matter how fast she ran, it seemed that the shard was only pulling farther away—

So she bent her legs and _leaped—_

Her feet hit the ground several feet in front of the shard, and she was forced to pull a harried _fouetté _to face it. The shard had skidded to a complete halt when faced with her, and was now clutching its hands to its chest as if frightened that she would attack it.

"_N-no… please don't…_"

"You have to return," Tutu said, stepping forward to take the shard's hands. "Trust me, please. It'll be safe in Siegfried's heart."

"_But I'm so frightened…_"

"You'll be safe. I promise."

"… _Okay._"

With a sound somewhat like glass breaking, the shard disintegrated into its gem form. Tutu watched it closely for a moment and then tucked it inside a small white pouch dangling from her wrist.

"Okay, now to find Lohengrin," she muttered, until a voice from behind her made her freeze.

"Oh, I don't think you'll be going anywhere very soon, _Princess Tutu._"

--

It wasn't a very complicated plan, Kraehe reflected, stroking the contours of her prince's cheek. It was a simple matter to convince the poor, muddled subconscious of her waking self that Fear needed to be returned and the knight taken to the castle; a less simple matter to fight her way through the mass of swans surrounding the house where her prince was being imprisoned.

"My poor prince," she murmured. "They kept you like a prisoner without even thinking of what you might have wanted…"

Her fingers tangled in his hair, and a thin smile spread across her face. It had been equally easy to defeat that ridiculous knight and capture him, leaving him locked in the cells below. Tutu had been a problem, of course—until Kraehe had trapped her in the orb cage she'd been saving for such an occasion.

The raven sighed, satisfied, and laid her head on Siegfried's shoulder. He glanced down at her with no real interest. His fingers were entwined with those on her free hand – the one not twisted into his beautiful hair. Feathers from the edge of the nest were scattered across both of them.

It was much different now from the usual stolen moments she could have with Siegfried; perhaps now because she didn't have to worry about any errant princesses or knights barging in and stealing him.

Or perhaps…

No, that was idiotic to think. There was no way that either of them could escape, save waking up her other self, and she would anchor Rue to the Story if she had to; there was no way she would allow this moment—where it was just her controlling the prince—to be broken.

Until someone broke out of her cage…

Far below, Tutu was clamping her tongue between her teeth with the effort it took to manipulate the vine. A small tendril of green was poking into the lock of a cell door, several feet away from where her cage was dangling, and it made it very hard to see exactly what was going on.

"I heard something clicking," Lohengrin reported from inside the cell, eyes fixed on his sword lying a few feet from the door. "Try it again."

"Lohengrin, we've been at this for about an hour, can't you—"

"Tutu," the knight said in a deadly calm tone, "try it again."

The princess heaved a sigh and frowned in concentration, prodding with the vine until _click-_ the door of the cell swung open and Lohengrin trudged out.

"Congratulations," he said sarcastically in her direction, and picked up the sword. "You can now unlock doors. You'd be an excellent thief."

He set off in the direction of the stairs, leaving Tutu to shout after him, "Lohengrin! Are you just going to leave me here?"

"Probably. I like you better when you're not fluttering around my head."

"_Lohengrin._"

The knight allowed himself a small smile and returned to Tutu's cage. "Stand back, idiot."

She stepped back a few paces, steadying herself against the bars of the orb, and with a noise like an iron bar being ripped in half, there was suddenly a very large hole in the other side. Lohengrin sheathed his sword and belted it on, and raised his hand to help her out.

"You're welcome."

"Pleasantries can be exchanged when we get out of here," the princess shot back, hurriedly stepping down from where the cage was suspended a few feet above the ground, and darted towards the stairs, knight in her wake. "The prince is probably with Kraehe, that's where he almost always is-"

"I know-"

"Then move faster!"

The princess stumbled abruptly at the midway point, staggering straight into a wall. Lohengrin paused, glancing at her with brief concern. "Tutu?"

"Shard's doing something," the swan panted, unlacing the mouth of the pouch. The shard's apparition appeared before the two, looking horrified. "_You lied._"

"I didn't-"

"_It's not safe..._"

"Yes, it-"

"_You're not returning me..._"

"Yes, I am," Tutu said desperately, reaching out to it. "You need to get back into the pouch and wait. Please, just wait-"

"_No!_"

The shard shied back, then sprinted up the stairs like it was being chased by the hounds of hell. Tutu set off in hot pursuit, leaving an incredibly confused Lohengrin to stare after her for a moment, then follow.

When the princess reached the top landing, the shard was nowhere in sight, but the pendant was glowing strongly... where was Kraehe? It seemed like whenever she came to this floor Kraehe was gone, or distracted... but she'd already stolen the prince right out from under their noses; what else could she be gone for?

"Rue might be holding her off," Lohengrin suggested, as if he could read her mind, and nodded towards her pendant. "Shard's near, I take it?"

"Yes. ... Lohengrin, could it have returned to Kraehe?"

The knight winced. "Oh, gods, I hope not... it's possible, though. Do we need a plan?"

"No. All we need to do is get the shard and get out... we can return it at the lake."

"Easier said than done," he mumbled, and drew his weapon.

They crept down the hall, Tutu with one hand over the brilliantly-glowing pendant, and approached the single door at the end. Behind it lay Kraehe's chambers; they'd run like madmen through it enough times to know their way around by heart. Lohengrin put a finger over his mouth to indicate she be quiet, and put his ear to the door.

_Arguing with the shard,_ he mouthed, and Tutu pressed the side of her head to the door as well.

"What do you mean, you escaped?!" Kraehe shrieked, and took a furious swing at the shard. It ducked the blow, stepping farther back from the angry raven.

"_She opened the bag and I ran... it wasn't safe... she lied, she's not returning me..._"

"She'd _better,_" Kraehe ground out. "You are as _annoying_ as a _stake_ under my _toenail._"

"_Sorry..._"

Huffing angrily, Kraehe gave the shard a dismissive wave and moved to her prince, who was sitting listlessly in the corner. "I apologize, my prince, the shard wishes only to disturb us."

"Un... it's okay..."

_Pure and stupid,_ she thought bitterly, and took a seat besides him, curling him close into a possessive embrace. "And Tutu cannot possibly come now... she'll stay down in her cage until I deem it right for her to return that shard..."

Her lovely trap. It was a very simple plan, but well-executed anyway. She laid her head on Siegfried's shoulder and her hand on his hand. "Poor Siegfried... you'll always be dumb and doll-like. I'll shut you away once this new shard's returned until you can't feel anything, not even fear. You will only be able to be mine, and to love only me."

The last word had barely left her mouth when the door banged open and in barged a very tall, very dark, and really pissed-off knight.

"Not anytime soon, you bitch," he snarled, and raised his sword.

--

The shard gave a gasp of terror and dived for Kraehe, melting into her form just as Tutu burst in behind Lohengrin. The raven raised an eyebrow and stood, leaving Siegfried to watch the stand-off that was definitely about to happen.

"You escaped," she said neutrally. "I didn't expect that to happen."

"Thank Tutu and her vines," the knight said shortly, and behind him, said Tutu rolled her eyes. "Now give the prince up, Kraehe, or would you prefer we took him?"

"Took him?" The crow laughed caustically, folding her arms in front of her chest. "You can't take him. He's mine."

"Kraehe," Tutu said softly, stepping around from behind Lohengrin. As the knight stared in disbelief at her, the princess lifted her hands. "Why are you so protective of Siegfried? Why do you hurt him as you do?" she continued, twirling her hands, then stepped forward. "I want to know. What are you so afraid of?"

"Afraid?" Kraehe barked out a laugh and smacked away Tutu's offering hand. "I am not afraid. I am not _afraid..._"

"I want to know how you feel."

Once more the outstretched hand was offered, and Kraehe stared at it for a long while.

Then she stepped back, shaking her head no. (**1**)

"I am not afraid," she said quietly. "I am not _afraid._"

As she spoke, she began to dance, stepping slowly and lightly. "I am not _afraid_," she continued, movement becoming swifter. Her shoes slapped on the stone below her feet as she began to turn effortless fouettés. "Fear is not what I feel. No. You want to know what I feel, Princess Tutu of the swans?"

She leaped suddenly into a grand jeté, landing on the stone behind Tutu, and whirled around to face her in an impressively swift rond de jambe.

"I am _angry._"

Tutu reached out towards the crow once more, and this time Kraehe took it, dragging the swan towards her with a vicious snarl on her features. "Every time you try to take my prince from me. Every time. I am simply a crow. I have no wants."

Aggressively, she whirled into an arabesque, hands curled like claws. "Now you will take my prince away from me! And you would return his heart to him? All the shards?! Including fear!" She returned to making fouettés, emphasizing each word with a turn. "Rage! Hate! Cruelty! Envy! Betrayal! Sorrow!"

She flew into a fouetté jeté as she turned, landing a few feet away and spinning once more to confront Tutu. The swan sprang into the air after her, landing in a graceful failli, and held out her hands once more.

"You would take him from me," Kraehe murmured, and suddenly crumpled to her knees, shaking. "You would take him from me, and return the shards that would make him hate me…"

She put her face in her hands, shuddering. If he had his heart, he wouldn't love her… he would hate her… and all that she had done…

She was so afraid of that…

The shard unfolded itself from her body, casting a last look at the girl whose heart it had rested in, and stepped forward to grasp Tutu's hand with insubstantial fingers. "_I want to go back to Siegfried… his heart… it needs me…_"

Tutu nodded, and the shard condensed into its gem form.

She regarded it for a moment with something akin to nervousness, then turned towards Siegfried, who was watching her with a half-blank stare. Tutu cleared her throat. "… We'll return this at the lake, Prince."

"Okay…"

As she tucked the shard inside the white pouch again, Lohengrin cast a disgusted look at the quivering Kraehe and sheathed his sword. He stepped forward to grasp Siegfried's hand tightly, and Tutu reached out and took the prince's other hand.

They reappeared at the lake, and the first thing that Tutu noticed were the bodies of swans scattered about the house.

Only some were bloodied, but all that were stained with red were, quite obviously, dead, surrounded by mourning fellows. She let out a pained cry and fell to her knees, scooping the nearest feathered corpse into her arms. "No… oh, gods, no…"

Lohengrin regarded the carnage with hard green eyes, and glanced down at the prince. "Tutu, what about the shard?"

"They're dead," she whispered, apparently oblivious to the knight's words. "Oh, gods, Lohengrin, they're all _dead. _We made them guard the prince, _we_ made them guard the prince. They're dead because of us…"

"Don't be stupid. They're dead because of Kraehe." His eyes narrowed at the bodies. "Are… they all…?"

"No," Tutu murmured, still cradling the body of the dead swan. "Just some of the ones that we set… she didn't have to _kill them!_"

"Ravens are all the same," Lohengrin noted bitterly, and then dragged Tutu up by the shoulder. "Return the shard. That's all you can do for now. We can take care of the bodies later."

Tutu stumbled forward awkwardly, the weight of the corpse in her arms making her slightly top-heavy, until she regained her balance and carefully lay the swan down again. "I don't understand how she could do this…"

"She's a raven." Unconsciously, Lohengrin tightened his grip on Siegfried's hand. "They're all the same. They want blood and carnage and death."

Hands still shaking, the swan carefully extracted the shard from its pouch and turned towards the prince.

"Shard, return to Siegfried," she muttered, and the shard glided out of her hand and sank into the prince's chest.

He gasped, much like before, and his hold on Lohengrin's hand tightened. The prince suddenly pressed closer towards the knight, looking around frantically. "K-Kraehe…"

"She's not here," Lohengrin said soothingly. "She won't take your heart."

"I-I-but I can _feel—"_

As before, he let out a strangled noise and went limp in the knight's arms. The muscles of Lohengrin's neck visibly tightened with irritation and no small amount of worry. "Mytho probably woke up again. Stay here and keep an eye out for Kraehe. Fakir will wake Ahiru up if she's needed."

Tutu nodded listlessly, and as the knight slumped to the ground, she sat down, pulling one of the mourning, living swans into her lap.

--

When Fakir sat up, Mytho was quite obviously, already awake.

The pale boy's hand was clenched over his heart, and in the dim light cast from the lamp, Fakir could see his expression was tortured. "No… I can't… I am not…"

"Mytho?"

Mytho suddenly glanced up at Fakir, and – was it his imagination, or did the smaller boy's eyes seem to be tainted… pink?

"Fakir," he murmured, and laughed softly. "Oh, Fakir. You remain so oblivious to your other self's wants… blame it on protectiveness, if you will, but I know…" His eyes glittered. "You're quite moronic, once you think on it."

"What?"

"Oh, ignore me," Mytho said lazily, lying back down on the bed. "I just find it astonishing that everyone treats me like a possession, that's all."

"Lohengrin and Tutu don't—"

"Fakir," the pale boy interrupted in an entirely different tone, "when do you think Siegfried's heart will be totally returned?"

"… I don't… know…"

"Oh." Mytho was quiet for a moment. "I'd like to get it back, though. All of it."

"I know."

"Night, Fakir."

"… Night, Mytho."

The lamp clicked off, and Fakir lay back down, staring at the ceiling through the blackness.

What could Mytho mean… what his other self wanted?

_It's nothing__,_ Lohengrin said shortly. _Nothing at all__. _

_I'm sure_.

_That's not the point, Fakir. Something's changed about Mytho. Didn't you sense it?_

_Well, yes_… Fakir turned over, regarding the other sleeping boy with bewilderment. _He's never acted like that before… _

_The shards are changing him. And not for the better._

_You're being ridiculous._

The only response was an indignant huff from his other self, and then silence. Fakir closed his eyes. Drama in the Story or not, they had class tomorrow and sleep was needed.

--

Worlds from there, worlds from there.

In a shadowy castle in the northern reaches of the Story, a shadow dressed in feathers clutched a scarlet jewel in her hand and a deep orange gem in the other. Carefully shielding her actions from the subconscious of her other self, the shadow placed the faceted jewel on the smooth pendant and wrapped a silver chain about both.

"It saddens me that we've come to this," whispered the shadow, placing the entire bundle in a shallow basin. "But unfortunately, there is no other way."

_Damn you, Kraehe. You knew you shouldn't have woven that net so quickly. One pulled thread, and it all falls apart._

She beckoned over one of her raven servants, and it approached, carrying in its talons a long vial filled with wine-colored liquid. She waved the raven away without so much as a thank you and pulled the stopper.

A thick, red, viscous matter oozed out of the vial and filled the basin, and as it stilled, Kraehe could see her reflection, shown back to her in blood.

"Now, my prince," she murmured, "you and your beautiful other self will be all mine."

* * *

**AN: **Uh, yeah. X3; Not exactly a hissy fit, I grant you, but enough to give Lohengrin some suspicions.

I know next to nothing about ballet, so uh, if you feel like correcting me, please do so.

_RodentOfUnusualSize-_ Sorry about the lack of hissy fit. D: But shard drama indeed, so happy birthday anyway?

_Foxy-chan09_- yey, another follower! *stoked* Yes, the girls totally did do it by accident. Hence Mytho and Rue sharing a bed.

Next time on One Time, One Dream: Ahiru's new accessory does some freaky stuff, Lohengrin's suspicions make him do bad things, and then everything whites out.


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